Here is my timetable of molts:
L2
(12 days)
L3
(18 days)
L4
(16 days)
L5
(20 days)
L6
(27-30 days)
L7
Waiting for L8 so at least 2 of them must be females.
I keep mine at room temp. Use a lamp for extra heat about 6 hours per day which takes it to 85-88.
Humidity 60-70% (as low at 45% with heat light on). And I mist them daily.
I've keep mine in a
glass enclosure with a roof of twigs and have none of the gripping problems others report.
One bad molt to L7 but alive and well. Second L7 is perfect.
What we need to track is at what point a molt went bad. At what point in the molt did they fall? Did they make it all the way out of the old skin, then fall? Or were they stuck? If they get stuck in the skin we can assume low humidity was the cause.
My only bad molt, the L7, was one that chose a spot with nothing to grip around it. I wasn't present to watch the molt but found complete skin and mantis in the moss. It had obviously made it completely out of the old skin, then fell.
The perfect L7 molt I witnessed (and recorder) was next to the vines and twigs I have mounted to one wall. The mantis did not step onto the leaves as I had anticipated, but rather twisted to grip them in addition to the skin. So had the skin dropped it may have held to the leaves. It then reached past the old skin to grip the twig roof. It's pretty crazy how long their legs get. I can understand how the lose them so easily.
My observations suggest that an ideal enclosure would have narrow (3" to 4") isles with foliage or twigs to each side. That way no matter where they choose to molt they would have the opportunity to grip additional surfaces after extraction from the skin. An open square of roof leaves the possibility of choosing a bad location to molt. I may construct a permeable wall of twigs down the center of my tank to test this out.
I will try to edit and post the L7 molt footage this week yet. I'll come back here and post the link.
